Orange
by WolvesFire77
Summary: You contemplate some of the most mundane things when you're overcharged.


Orange

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The battle wasn't anything memorable, in fact not many would really call it a battle in the end. The actual reason for the fight wasn't too clear other than the fact the Decepticons were out practicing flight maneuvers in a field. Everything would have gone unnoticed had a certain warping seeker not lost his course and effectively crashed into a yellow front liner patrolling the edges of the Autobot territory. There were no casualties and the only injuries that were worth medical attention ended up being accidental. Ratchet wasn't too happy when he realized he has to repair a red dislocated hip because a certain "pit spawned hellion didn't know how to fragging land without making a scene".

None the less the Autobot faction had won and it wasn't above them to let a victory go without a celebration. Thus not long after everyone settled back into the ark the rec room walls were pounding to the heavy beat of an unknown song. The darkness fought with the quick pace of the colorful strobe lights that rotated around on the ceiling, coloring bots in neons with quick flashes. The sweet, warm stench and empty cubes of the twin's home-made high-grade littered the large room, the heavier the smell got the more obvious the mech's overcharged state became noticeable. That didn't hinder them though, in fact not many had noticed.

A select few sat circling a table in a dimly lit corner, cards fanned out in their hands or laying face down on the table in front of them. Smoke billowed out of a smirking mouth as bold blue doorwings flicked skyward. "Feelin' lucky my mech?"

A red mech sneered at the bot seated in front of him as he gently exhaled more of the light blue smoke in his direction. Using a hand to fan himself some breathing space he swiftly kicked the bot under the table. "Do ya' have'ta smoke in 'ere raight now?" Reaching down the doorwinger grabbed up a stray cube of forgotten highgrade, knocking away the hand that laid lazily circling the drink as well as the unconscious mech laying face down on the table connected to it. He smiled his signature lopsided smirk as he brought the cube to his lips, half shuttering his optics meeting Ironhide's stern gaze. "Yeah sugar rims, I do. I really do" With a returning smirk and a rev of his powerful engine Ironhide leaned forward holding the Datsun's stare as a predatory smirk curved his lips.

"Cam yous twos getta berth? Fraaag it's like…like I is watchin' a damn sad excuse f'r… for foreplay." The drunken inventor stared hard at the guns-master as his head fins flashed an overcharged purple, as if the longer and harder he stared the sooner his point would get across. Leaning back into his chair Ratchet crossed his arms, cards still in hand as he too gave Ironhide a bored look. "As rare as it may seem, I agree with Jack. Just run off and jump each other already. You two have been staring at each other since the first round of high-grade came out and frankly it's just sad." His gaze flipped over to the frowning psychologist. "Seriously. You're using pet names and eyeing each other's frame. For fragsake if that doesn't show how badly you want him then I don't know what does." Giggling the saboteur to his left tried hiding his face behind his crudely fanned out cards, one laying backwards so the rest of the table saw the card while another lay diagonally tilted. "Guys….guys! You won't….you won't believe this. Smokey wants to frag Ironhide!" Rolling his optics Ratchet reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Yes Jazz, we just went over this."

The visored mech's face fell as he turned to stare seriously at the medic. They held each other's stare for a bit before Jazz opened his mouth. "Hey have you ever noticed the walls are orange? Like...like really looked at how orange they are?"

Suddenly the previously unconscious mech sat up turning his head to the smoker, laughing quietly. "So orange. Such bright. Much fruit. Wow. Orange rhymes with….orange!" Hound drunkenly laughed while he tried patting Bluestreak's helm, his hand missing a couple of times and gently hitting Blue's face or shoulder. "Man you-you're plastered Blue." "No I'm orange."

Suddenly the overcharged mechs burst into a fit of laughed, one knocking energon onto the floor while another almost fell off his chair. The medic sighed, not for the first time that night wondering why he decided to sit with these mechs.

"But-but seriously mechs! Wh-why's the walls orange? It's such….such a…." "Fugly color?" Laughing a little Jazz tried to fake hit Smokescreen for interjecting but any malice was lost as his grin grew larger. "No. Nono…it's not fugly. Just….unexpected." "Maybe it was on sale?" Ratchet smirked, shaking his head. "Naw the command staff wouldn't have allowed that. The gossip mill would have just ran away with the fact that the Autobot's pride and joy battle ship was trying to save credits." "Oh that's right. Good point."

Reaching up Hound scratched at the back of his helm, staring at the table top as if it would give him his answer. "Wait who took- was in charge of choosing the color wall- wall color?" Ironhide glanced questionably at Ratchet as he shrugged. "Wasn't it Prowl? I think it was Prowl." "Prowlie bot. P~row~ler."

Reaching over Ratchet shoved at Jazz's shoulder. "Shut up. We don't need you getting all revved up too." "Does Prowl even like the color orange?" "Hmm…I thought he'd go with something neutral." Bluestreak threw his hands in the air and excitedly yelled "Grayscale!" "Yeah I can see them being gray." "What if…what if he chose purp-no that's wrong- orange- he chose orange because it's a….."

Hound's optics suddenly zoomed out as his mouth hung open, his shoulders slightly slumping a bit. Bluestreak stared wide opticed at Hound as Ironhide growled, snapping his fingers in front of the purple tinted optics. "Yo, Ho'nd mah mech." Ratchet absently shifted in his seat, taking a drink of his energon as he shuttered his optics.

"Give him a klick. He'll pick back up. His processing power's just skipping." "Tha' sounds dang'rous." "Naw. It's more like…losing your train of thought." Ironhide turned to stare at the medic, confusion coloring his optics. "Wha's that mean?" "No too sure. But Spike described it last time when Grimlock was doing the same thing." Shaking his head the red mech turned back around, continuing to snap in the scout's face. "Woah. G'ess he's moar crat'red than 'ai thought." "Yeah he's always been good at hiding how overcharged he-" "-a cheerful floor." "See. Told you."

Tilting his head questionably the green mech gave Ratchet his best confused expression though he wasn't as successful at hiding the laughter bubbling up from his vocalizer. "Told what? What happened?" Ignoring what Ratchet was going to say Ironhide waved Hound's attention to him. "Did you mean cheerful color?" "Yeah that's what I said." "No you said- oh never mind." Putting down how now empty cube Ratchet drew the mech's attention back to him.

"Regardless the walls are orange. I don't see the Ark's interior having a repaint any time soon." Bluestreak's arm shot into the air as if Ratchet's words triggered some instant reaction in him. "Oh-oh please pick me! Momma pick me!"

Slowly Ratchet met Ironhide's tinted optics raising and optical ridge as he frowned. "Is he talking to-" Ironhide immediately put his hands up, shaking his head and looking away. "S'not me. Tha's for s're." Sighing Ratchet hung his head, ignoring Bluestreak for a bit, muttering a quiet "I'm not faded enough for this" before he smiled sweetly at the smaller Datsun eagerly trying to get his attention. "Yes sweet spark. What'd you wanna say?"

Upon realizing the table's attention was now entirely focused upon him Blue slouched a bit as he fluttered his doorwings and quickly met everyone's tinted optics. "Um….why do I share a room-why we have roommates?" "Because half of the ship is buried under rock. The majority of the sleeping quarters included." "Rock? Like rock beats papers and scissors beats paper but scissors don't beat rock because rocks smashes scissors?" "Um…" Glancing at the only other mech that was relatively conscious he mentally sighed when he saw Ironhide trying to work it out, drawing an imaginary figure on the table top. "I'm going to say yes." "Well then why don't we just put it in reverse like _BEEP, BEEP, BEEP_ so…so….so we can um…get our rooms back?" "It doesn't work that way Blue. It's crushed like-" "Mah hand under Devastator's footsies!" "Yes Jazz. Nice example, thank you." "Amby times mah friend."

Laying his front half against the table as he looked up at the talking mechs Bluestreak unintentionally giving everyone his best puppy dog eyes. "Hey Ratchet?" "Go ahead and just ask Blue." "Why is energon pink and our inside energon's blue?" Wheeljack shot his pointer finger in the air, wobbly shouting "For Science!" before falling back offline. "Uh…yeah Blue. There's a converter inside your-"

A red hand suddenly covered his mouth, initiating a burning glare at being interrupted. "Wha' Ratch' meant ta say Blue 's there's this magic convert'r in yar tummy tha' magic'ly turns tha' 'nergon Blue fer 'ar body. Underst'nd?" Bluestreak closed his mouth as it hung open, blinking his optics slowly before he smiled. "Your accents re~a~lly thick 'Hide." Chuckling Ironhide ignored the fact Ratchet licked his palm in an attempt to remove the limb. He did poke Ratchet's nose to throw his head back in a successful attempt to avoid a bite to a finger.

"My show's coming on right now." "No one's keepin' ya Smokes."

In a sarcastic response Smokescreen took a long drag from his drug and blew out the dark exhaust into Jazz's face, the fact he coughed towards the end completely ignored. Some of the smoke made its way under the bottom of the blue glass protecting equally blue optics making Jazz flail slightly as he fought an impossible opponent. Angrily Jazz stood up, slammed his hands down on the table and glaring at Smokescreen's bored optics. "No. That is not ok. This-" To emphasis his point Jazz waved his arms wildly around his persona. "This is mai breathing space. MAI SPACE. Le bubble. MINE. Not yours. Step off bro."

Ratchet frowned at the Porsche as he reached forward and waved a hand in front of his visor trying to grab his attention before he decided to get physical. "Jazz what have I told you about watching too many Earthian youngling cartoons?" Jazz sat heavily in his chair and crossed his arms, pouting as he looked away from the red and white mech. "That they'll st'rt showin' up in mah words." "That they'll start showing up in your words. Exactly."

Suddenly an offline Hound fell out of his chair, the cards in his hand scattered across his frame. Smokescreen sighed and stood up on wobbly legs, causing the contents of the table to dangerously wobble around as he caught himself on the edge. Giggling at himself he leaned against the back of Bluestreak's chair, watching the other doorwinger recharge a bit, and absently poked a twitching doorwing as it drew his attention, till he looked straight up at the ceiling. "Woah. Even the roof's orange. Prowl was thorough." "Have you ever known him to not be?" Nodding Smokescreen shook his finger at the medic. "Hey Doc you gotta….you gotta point. Hey I didn't know yous had a twin-"

Ratchet winced as he saw Smokescreen disappear on the other side of the table, falling onto Hound's downed form with a muted clank as he too lost consciousness. "I wonder why he got up. Didn't need to go anywhere." Flicking an empty cube across the table Ironhide vaguely muttered his assumed answer. "Well ai'm s're it had ta do wit' tha fact 'e promis'd Raj' 'e wouldn't let Hound get smashed."

Sighing at the low toned response Ratchet absently poked at his empty cube, basking in the glowing warmth that came with a nice high-grade buzz as he ignored Jazz's strange hiccups as he too fell into a heavy recharge. Glancing to his right at the guns-master he smirked. Ironhide glared at the cards he's picked up from the table, reaching over and exchanging some of his cards for the favored ones that were effectively pillowing Blue's head. Occasionally he's accidently grab at the air above the cards but he would eventually grab one and decide if it was worth stuffing into his grip or belonged on the floor with the recharging mechs.

"Hey." When no response came out of the large red mech Ratchet leaned over and poked a broad shoulder. "Wha'd ya want. 'ai'm busy." Smirking Ratchet put his head in his hand, leaning towards Ironhide to get a peek at the stolen straight flush he was trying to complete. "Oh. And uh….how's that working out for you, you brute?" After struggling to wiggle a card out from under Blue's helmet Ironhide was reduced to pushing the mech's head to the side, freeing the rest of the imprisoned cards. "Can't find'a damn red one."

Glancing around the room at the dying party Ratchet huffed, reaching back and poking Ironhide's armor again. Growling Ironhide snarled a quiet "what?" Ratchet sat in silence till Ironhide finally looked up, meeting his optics. "Hey. You wanna go frag?" Raising his optical ridges Ironhide sat for a moment, almost stunned into silence before he threw down his cards and smiled widely. "Frag yes. Been waitin' fer ya ta say s'mething."

Ratchet stood up much more slowly than Ironhide did, trying not to throw his chair back just as the other had. The medic hadn't even taken a step away from the table before eager red hands were gripping his waist and an enthusiastic mouth was clumsily looking for his own. As they made their way towards the door a pair of lightly tinted optics watched them leave, confusion evident in his gaze.

"Something wrong Prowl?"

Turning back to his leader the tactician didn't even try to hide his confusion.

"Prime did they just say the walls are orange? I could have sworn I ordered them to be blue. The catalog color I saw was blue."

Raising an optical ridge at the smaller bot Prime glanced at the nearest orange wall before realization dawned on him. A wide smile peeked over his mask as he turned back to the doorwinger, his amusement fully coloring his optics.

"I didn't know you were color blind Prowl."

Frowning hard Prowl borderline glared up at his superior, his doorwings flaring up and out in an unconscious show of intimidation by trying to look bigger.

"I am not color blind, sir."

Laughing quietly at his puffed up second Optimus rested his elbows against the table, leaning towards Prowl.

"Sounds like you are to me."

Huffing Prowl shuttered his optics, drinking from his nearly empty cube to buy him some more time to come up with a better retort than "well-I'm-not". Chuckling again Optimus reached forward, putting a hand on his second's shoulder drawing his attention once again.

"Prowl it's alright. Many great bots were colorblind. Alpha Trion and Zeta Prime were colorblind. I think even Cliffjumper may be as well. He has difficulty with the darker shades of green."

Sighing Prowl reached up to rub the base of his chevron. Till he froze. Slowly he lowered his hand and stared into the Prime's optics.

"Alright, so orange equals blue. Does blue equal orange?"

"Not that I'm aware of. No blue equals blue."

"But orange equals blue."

"Yes."

"So blue and orange equal blue?"

"That's what I'm getting."

Leaning back Prowl stared at the table top before smirking.

"I can live with that."

* * *

Alternate tid-bits I couldn't fit. I figured you all would like to read them

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"Hey Hound?" "Yup." "Do birds cry?" "Well not literally. They could have…have irritations in their eyes that make them look like they're weeping but not like…like humans do when they're sad or something. Why?"

"I heard a birdy chirping at night the other orn and it sounded sad so I wondered if it was crying because I once heard that they sing because in their language they're screaming but no one understands because who can really understand bird talk except maybe you or Trailbreaker but someone told me they're scream singing they're afraid of heights and that's a bit ironic because they get around by flying and you have to be really high up to do that. Well they can hop around but that's not really as fast as flying but wait I once saw this online video of a bird, I think it was a parakeet, running along a counter top away from an explosion like they do in the movies and I could tell it was added later because an explosion like that was too small to be that bright and the house they were in would have been damaged like a lot and it looked more like a movie effect so-"

"Blue drink your high grade." "Why?" "Because you talk less when you're faded." "Is that why you guys got me 9 cubes of high grade?" "No that's why we got you 9 plus the next round that's coming for you."

Blue glared at the saboteur, ignoring the rest of the table's laughter as they too started on their own cubes.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *

"I'm not touching you. I'm not touching you. I'm not touching-"

A red hand shot out, holding a green finger at such an odd angle that simply looking at the bent appendage made you wince.

"Yar n't wh't?"

Laughing brokenly Hound leaned down in an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure on his soon to be broken finger.

"Ironhide, my mech, you know you're looking rather extravagant in this light and-

"Yeah that's what I thought."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *

"So if orange looks like blue…what color is my chevron?"

"Um…Red?"

"It's red? Oh thank Primus. It must be only the color orange. Unless…"

Raising his cube he held it up to the Prime's vision.

"This is pink no? Hound's armor is green? Bumblebee is yellow? Blaster is blue?"

"Blaster isn't blue. He's a mix of orange and red."

Rubbing once again at the base of his chevron Prowl sighed, muttering to himself before he sighed.

"Well that explains a lot."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *

Falling heavily into his chair Jazz greeted the other mechs with a wide smile. "Nice moves out there Jazz-mech." Snapping his fingers into a point Jazz smiled widely at the hyper Datsun sitting across from him.

"You know it baby-Blue."

Ratchet barely glanced up as the visored mech absently reached back, grabbing a black aft as it walked by, laughing as the doorwings above it flickered and a black hand smacked his hand angrily. The large smile breaking into light hearted laughter as a pair of ice blue optics half glared at him as they followed the Prime to a nearby booth.

"So you and Prowl, huh Jazz?"

Ratchet kept his attention on the fanned out hand of cards he rearranged, though it was evident he was waiting for an answer.

"Me and the Prowler?"

Distantly a correction to his words was ignored, though his smile widened.

"Yeh me 'n Prowler 're a thing now."

Flicking his bored expression at the smiling one to his right Ratchet shook his head.

"No, I knew that. Frag everyone knew that long before you two were even stationed to share a room. No I mean you finally got him to crawl out of his corner and onto the dance floor."

"Yeh. I think th' darkness and dialed down sensory input helped a lot."

Shrugging a shoulder Ratchet reached out, taking a card out of its ordered line and placing it between a different pair.

"I don't care so long as you just don't fraggin' lock him up again. I swear I will weld your aft to the floor."

"What? But you already welded me to a chair!"

Wheeljack slowly lifted his hand in the air, drawing both of the mechs attention.

"Actually that was my fault. One of my experiments leaked out of its containment unit in the med bay and it magnetized your armor to the chair. I'm still puzzled as to why it didn't affect the floor or anyone else because Ratchet was there and-"

Jazz turned to Ratchet, zoning out Wheeljack's muttering.

"I could've sworn that was you."

Still giving his cards all his attention Ratchet shook his head.

"Nope. Wish it was me. Was too damn funny when you told the twins I went through with my threat. Let's just say, when my shift starts my tools are where I leave them at night."

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧ *: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *

A.N.: Hey all. I know it has been a good while since I've uploaded anything. Well today's my birthday so my gift to you is this little tidbit. I hope you enjoyed reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I might have gotten off track a bit but this was more of an exercise to get me back into the writing groove. I'm not guaranteeing an update for everything but I am working on 'upgrading' the quality of some of my earlier cringe worthy stories as well as making my way through some updates.

Just to clear any confusion I use the word 'faded' as another word for overcharged, smashed, or drunk. Also for this story's sake the bot's optics slowly turn purple the more they're over charged. Hence the term 'tinted optics' and what not.

Regardless I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve! (That is if you celebrate it ^w^. If not have a wonderful day/night!)

*✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*: ･ﾟ✧*✧･: *✧*

The original bunny for this is by Prowlsgirl up on LiveJournal.

Prompt: _The reason why the Ark's interior was all orange cause of one thing...Prowl was color blind but no one on the Ark knew about it._

___Link to the bunny: ______tf-bunny-farm. livejournal 313112 . html (just take out the spaces of course ^^) _


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